international

international

Lehigh Valley professor Barbara Cantalupo and DuBois Professor Emeritus Richard Kopley are notable Edgar Allan Poe scholars, longtime colleagues and friends. Their most recent collaboration, the fourth International Edgar Allan Poe Conference, was more than two years in the making.

Students in Penn State’s College of Communications have nearly 300 study abroad opportunities in 50 countries. Students may also complete international experiences as part of “embedded courses” that combine a full-semester of classroom work with a weeklong experience overseas.

Penn State Lehigh Valley faculty, with the support of the Student Activity Fee, will host the second annual Global and Cultural Engagement Expo for students from 1 to 2 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 5, in Room 135. The event’s purpose is to showcase the many international courses and programs that are offered throughout the year at the campus. The event is free and open to students, faculty and staff.

Penn State Lehigh Valley has expanded the number of spring break travel opportunities offered this year. During spring break (March 9-15), Lehigh Valley campus faculty and staff are leading more than 75 students on trips to Great Britain, Ireland, Mexico, and Peru, as well as Massachusetts and West Virginia.

Ever since she was little, Jeanette Blank dreamed about traveling to Australia. After years of dreaming, Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences helped her get there at last.

When she finally arrived, she was determined to learn as much as she could and take any opportunity presented to her. "Before I left on the trip, someone told me that if I came home and said ,'I wished I had done something there,' they'd kick my butt," Blank said. "So I was on a mission!"

Blank, a senior majoring in agricultural and extension education, traveled to Australia with a small group of students. Their goal was to learn more about the differences in natural resources and tourism between Australia and the United States.

Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences is part of a $6.2 million grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) aimed at improving food security in the developing world.

Called innovATE -- Innovation in Agricultural Training and Education -- the project is part of the federal government's Feed the Future initiative to tackle global food insecurity. Feed the Future is a presidential initiative that draws upon the resources and expertise of U.S. government agencies, universities, the private sector and nongovernmental community organizations to assist countries in sustainably growing enough food to feed their people.

There was no turning back for the 11 Penn State students who traveled to Turrialba, Costa Rica this spring. If they wanted to get as much as they could out of the four weeks they would spend there, they had to completely immerse themselves in their surroundings and try their best to unplug from life back in the United States.

Having finished U.S. Marine Corps Officer Candidate School and one year of law school, Nicole Anderson, has another challenge in mind: learning Mandarin Chinese in eight months. As a 2012-13 Boren Fellow at National Taiwan University, she will get that chance.

In the wake of violent protests in Benghazi and Cairo, Penn State Professor Flynt Leverett, former senior director for Middle East affairs for the National Security Council, explains how powerfully public opinion in the region can impact U.S. foreign policy.

An international initiative co-led by a professor in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences recently brought experts from around the world to Iceland to explore the potential for innovation in natural-resource governance.